SusanJ answers “Can someone help me understand why cotton...”

SusanJ asked this question about Empire of Cotton: A Global History:

Can someone help me understand why cotton was such a big deal? I understand about supply/demand with respect to price - new technology and globalization and whatnot brought the price down, and allowed for a lot of production, but what makes the "demand" for cotton so great? Is it the fashion aspect? Certainly most folks I know have way more clothes than they'll ever wear, and keep buying more... But still...

SusanJ thanks for all the interesting answers. I don't remember what exactly was in my mind when I wrote the question 5 years ago, but what I'm thinking abou…morethanks for all the interesting answers. I don't remember what exactly was in my mind when I wrote the question 5 years ago, but what I'm thinking about now, is how there are certain products that the public "demands" that apparently can't be produced without horribly oppressive labor practices - cotton under slavery, the crops that migrant workers harvest nowadays, the minerals produced by virtual slaves in South America and Africa, to make smart phones and electric cars.

On some level, I feel like if we can't make particular products without the bad working conditions, we should do without the products... I know enough about economics to know that "demand" for a product is always "demand at a particular price" and if cotton cost $400/yard we wouldn't be finding it in jeans etc except maybe for the super-rich...

Anyway, thanks, all. I wish Goodreads had a more active discussion going - I'm always so hungry for conversation when I first read something...
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Empire of Cotton

by Sven Beckert

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